The Day After
by Kit4
Summary: Jareth gets a chance to tell his side of the story to Sarah, and see what happens afterwards!!
1. Chapter 1

Hey people!!! This is my first Laby fanfic, so please don't be mean!!!!! I'm a very fragile child. I break easily under flames!!!! ( I hope it's at least kinda original. Lemme know if you want more. (  
  
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The party the night before had gone long into the night. Sarah slept late the next day, not achieving consciousness until far after the sun had risen. She awoke slowly, with bleary eyes, as shattered memories of her dream ran through her mind. A crystal, a dance, owl's eyes, blond hair. She shook those thought from her mind and went to check on Toby.  
  
Toby also seemed to have slept late. He lay with a soft smile on his face, a smile of contentment. Sarah lightly brushed his hair back and went downstairs for breakfast. The sunlit kitchen was peaceful in the noon light. Sarah picked up the sheet of paper on the table and read it quickly, with no surprise. "Sarah, went out to eat lunch and go shopping. Be back late this evening." Sarah sighed. Well, at least she had the house to herself.  
  
After breakfast, Sarah went up to her room. She felt the need to change it the way that she had changed overnight. She had grabbed a large box, and started to put her old toys and stuffed animals into it. Her hand brushed the red Labyrinth book as she put away the music box with the dancer. Something inside told her to open it. To read those words one last time before she put it away forever.  
  
Sitting on the floor, oblivious to the box and everything else in her room, she began to read the story she knew by heart. 


	2. Jareth's side of things

Hey children, here's another chapter. LOTS bigger than the last one. ( Enjoy!!! Oh yea, I don't own the Labyrinth stuff, if you haven't noticed, you know, what with the whole FANFIC thing and all, cuz if it was mine, it wouldn't be FANfic, it'd just be fic.so.yea....  
  
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As Sarah turned the first page, she knew immediately something was different. The story she knew began with "Once upon a time". The book now read, "There once was a lonely man." Captivated by this mystery, she read on.  
  
"There once was a lonely man. He was an immortal, and a King. But his subjects were all goblins. They had a childlike innocence, it's true, but they had a childlike cruelty as well. They also were messy, and loud. The King liked the quiet. He enjoyed balls, with dancing, soft music, and beauty. The goblins would have nothing to do with such things though. So the King was sad. He had no choice in his reign though, he never chose or desired to be king. His father had been the goblin king, and he was the only child. The only thing in his life that kept him happy was the children. Children wished away by family members that were often too absorbed in themselves to care. So the King took care of the children. He would play with them, teach them, and eventually send them wherever they wanted to go. Many went back to the Aboveground, and lived out their lives there. But some decided to stay Underground. They were like his children and he cared deeply for them.  
  
When his children would leave, he would often look in on them, to make sure they fared well. Well one of his children, a girl, went Aboveground to be an actress. She was one of his favorites, so he checked up on her often. She had a spirit all her own, and a lover of fantasy and magic. He watched her marry, and have a child, a girl who surpassed her mother by far with her beauty and spirit. The girl's spirit was one of fire, and it entranced the King. He spend long days watching the girl grow. He watched as her mother left, her wild heart not willing to settle down, and he watched the girl's father remarry, and he watched her step- mother break her heart. He could see into the girl's heart, and could see that she felt as though she didn't belong. Some part of her called out to the Underground to take her home, and the King could hear it. But he knew that he would have to wait for her to speak the words, so he sent her a book, a book of fantasy to show her where she really belonged.  
  
The girl fell in love with the story, and, he hoped, the King. But the girl never said the words. She never made a wish to see the King. The King watched still, hoping for the day to come when she would grow up and realize the truth. The girl however, was frustrated with her step-mother and her brother. The King knew the day would come when she would say the words, but not the ones he wished she would say.  
  
The day came, and she spoke them. The King came to her and used all his strength to appear calm and collected as he stood before the object of his affection. But when he spoke to her as she looked over the Labyrinth, he couldn't help leaning forwards and smelling her sweet hair. As he went back to his castle to watch her, he nearly broke down. He knew he would have to teach her, as he taught all those who entered the Labyrinth. He didn't want for her to have to grow up like that, but he had no choice. The words had been said and there was no reversal.  
  
The hours passed, and when she reached the oubliette, he saw an opportunity to go talk to her again. The dwarf was not doing as the King had ordered, so the King decided to use that as a reason. After dealing with the dwarf, the King could not help but go over to his precious girl. He could see her trembling a touch, and the urge to comfort her overwhelmed him. But the rules of the land are very strict about such things, and the most he could do was move close to her as he spoke, leaning one arm against the wall. She spoke bravely, but a surge of anger overwhelmed him. A touch of jealousy, he realized later, that she would side with the dwarf and stand with him against the King. A bit of pride, he admitted, drove him to up the stakes. She would not admit that his Labyrinth, his own creation, was difficult. And she dared to speak of unfairness when he was forced to play the villain towards her when all he wanted to do was take her in his arms and comfort her!  
  
Watching her run away from the Cleaners he had thrown at her, his heart leapt with fear and worry. As the girl and the dwarf reached the locked gates, the King cursed himself for forgetting that. With a quick wave of his hand, he drew the girl's attention to a bad wall, and helped it to collapse in time for them to escape. As an apology for his bad temper, the King placed a ladder out of the tunnels in the hidden room.  
  
A pang of jealousy hit the King as the girl called the dwarf her friend. She would befriend a rude creature that had shown her no kindness instead of the Goblin King she had read so much about. He was in awe however, when she also befriended a large beast that his soldiers were attempting to detain. The King was happy she did though, for his forgetful goblins had taken to tormenting the beast, as children often do when a weakness has been observed. He had to admit that his jealous heart was glad that the little dwarf had left her, but when the dwarf started to go help the girl when he heard her cries, his jealously overwhelmed him.  
  
The King could see that the dwarf cared about the girl, no matter what it was that he said, and it hurt his heart to see that so close up. So he was cruel to the dwarf, jealous anger over-ridding his common sense. He knew that the girl only cared for the dwarf as a friend, but he wasn't at all sure of how the dwarf felt about her. He knew firsthand how easy it was to fall for her, and he wouldn't be able to stand it if he lost her to his own subject. So he gave the dwarf a present to give the girl. Something to make her forget about the dwarf and the child for a while so that he could see her without having to be the villain.  
  
His anger got a hold of him again for a moment when she kissed the dwarf in grateful thanks for helping her. He couldn't help opening the ground up beneath them and throwing them towards the bog, but his temper began to cool. But then the foolish dwarf had to say something about the kiss to the girl, which caused the stones they were walking on to fall. Thankfully the conversation turned as they faced the new challenge.  
  
The King's jaw dropped as the girl found the simplest way to cross the bridge. Never in all his years would he have simply thought to ask for the fox's permission. And she just asked, simple as could be. He nearly panicked, however, as the bridge gave way under her feet. He was relieved when she grabbed a branch, but had to use his magic to prevent any splashes from hitting her. It really wouldn't do to have her smelling for all eternity.  
  
He was about to let the girl be and check on his goblins, who were, no doubt, destroying his kingdom, when he saw the dwarf try to drop the King's present into the bog. He warned the dwarf, then set out to check on the goblins.  
  
After the girl walked for a few hours, and the King took care of his goblins and the girl's brother, the dwarf gave her the King's present. The King climbed onto a window ledge and spun another spell for the girl, so that he could see her. He sent the three crystals to her and sat in wait.  
  
When the girl entered the ballroom, she was more beautiful than the King had ever imagined she could be. Her mouth slightly parted as she searched for him through the crowd. The crowd, modeled after his own goblins, parted before him, and the girl stared deep into his eyes as he lowered his mask. He couldn't help the tear that fell as he saw her beauty, so close, and yet so far away from him. For a moment, she stared into his very soul it seemed, until someone moved between them and the King forced himself to disappear before he threw himself at the girl.  
  
The King danced with a random woman from the crowd as he watched the girl searching for him, her purity obvious to the crowd, which tempted them to tease her. He hid behind a fan as she walked past him, not able to contain a grin as he turned away. Just her presence soothed him and the fact that she might feel something towards him excited him to the point of elation.  
  
He watched her from random places in the ballroom and she hunted for him. Finally she caught him behind yet another fan, between two women. Their eyes caught and held as before. He knew the moment had come. He separated himself from the other women, and took the girl into his arms and danced with her. They stared into each other's eyes as the world melted away behind them, and he couldn't help but sing the words to her, the words to the song he had composed for her. "But I'll be there for you, as the world falls down." He felt that she had a right to know he would always be there for her, no matter what. But the crowd frightened the girl, and she stopped looking into the King's eyes. He continued to dance with her though, trying to ease her fear and comfort her, but to no avail. Tears began to fill her eyes, and the King smiled sadly for he knew that he couldn't keep her there forever, his little interlude was over, and she would go. As she broke away and began to run, however, he couldn't help reaching out to touch her hair.  
  
After the ball, the King went to his throne room and played with the girl's brother. His mind, however, was only focused on the girl. He replayed the dance again and again in his mind. Forever considering what could have happened had he done certain things. He explored every possibility, not knowing that the girl had regained her memory and was going through his defenses already, until a guard came in and destroyed the King's reverie. He hurriedly gave orders to call out the guards and sent the child into the Escher room. The King watched from a high window as the girl made her way through the city, the back of his mind thinking of all the repair work that would be necessary. Mostly, however, he was just concerned that she would be hurt.  
  
When she made it to the castle, the King went up to the Escher room to wait for her. He watched with wearied sadness as she began to walk through it. He came up underneath her and began to sing. His songs always reflected his moods, so this one was a heart-wrenching soft melody. With a touch of anger the King told the girl that everything he'd done was for her, and with a bitterness too hard to bare, let her know that he had done all that he could and more. He told her of her own cruelty, and that if his disgusted her, it was no worse than her own, as he threw a crystal to her brother. He then confessed that he believed in her, even though she didn't really believe in him. While he made his confession, however, she only screamed her brother's name, and broke the King's heart. He sang then that he knew his was an unrequited love.  
  
He watched, not interfering in any way as the girl chased her brother around the room, not realizing that it was impossible, for the child would never stay still. He attempted to collect his thoughts and discern the best way to approach her. Finally, when she jumped, he found the opportunity. Making the room appear in shambles, the brother gone, he landed her gently on the ground and appeared to her. She spoke the lines of the silly book he had given her, and that angered him. The book was made for her to learn of him, and get to know him, not for her to try to use against him! So the King warned her not to make him angry, but she demanded to know what it was that he had done that was generous. So he told her. Everything was for her, but she was too blind to see the truth of it before her very eyes. With weariness sinking his heart, he told her how exhausted he was with trying to live up to being the horrible goblin king she had imagined, his eyes pleading with her to see the truth. Her cruel eyes just stared at him, as she advanced, reciting more of the book. He stopped her and begged her to take his gift, his gift of everything that she wanted, all her dreams. Did she not understand that if she accepted and then she wished her brother to be safe, that it would be so? All that he wanted was her love. He wanted to have her as a husband has a wife, so thinking this he spoke the words spoken at weddings Aboveground. He changed them in the slightest to make them fit his world, but in essence, they were the same vows to love, honour, and obey. "Fear me, love me, do as I say, and I will be your slave." For in the Underground, to honour someone is to fear their powers. But the girl just searched for the last line of the story. As she spoke it, he realized that in order for it to be true, for him to have no power over her, she did not have any feelings for him, for emotions for another are the most power one person can have over another. So the King let her go home. The girl's first thought, naturally, was of her brother. The King had placed him back where he belonged, of course, but it touched him to see that the bitterness in the girl had gone.  
  
The King watched with sorrow as the girl began packing away her childhood things. He was proud of the woman she had become, but sorry he had to be the one to ruin her childhood. So he let her have a party with all the friends she had made in his Labyrinth. (There were quite a few.) And the King watched outside, glad that that made her happy.  
  
The next morning, the King watched the girl pack more of her things up, and decided that perhaps she had not understood him. So he decided to tell his side of things in the book he had sent her. He gave her a little push to open it, so that she wouldn't just pack it up and forget about it, and then he gave her another present. The gift of being able to call upon him at any time if she held the necklace he had given her and said his name."  
  
Sarah looked up with a start. "He never gave me necklace." Feeling a tug at her neck, she looked down and saw a necklace with a beautiful owl holding a crystal. Blue and purple mist floated around in the crystal as she watched it, and the owl seemed to be staring at her affectionately. Grinning, she looked back at the book and said, "Thanks!" On the blank page after the last page of the story appeared tiny writing. Looking closely she saw it said, "You're most welcome dearest Sarah." 


	3. Who are you?

Hey guys, sorry about the wait, inspiration has been lacking… As for the freaky thing where it said there were 4 chapters when there were in fact only 2…well, as I told some of you, I had uploaded the first two chapters once, but when I tried to view them, it said they didn't exist, but the chapter counter thingy said they were there, so I re-uploaded them due to the kindly help of some kind soul, so then both chapters could be viewed, but the silly counter thingy decided that the originally uploaded ones exist there somewhere. Sorry for any confusion. ( Thanks for the reviews everyone!!!! I love you all!!!!!!! (  
  
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As Sarah continued packing up her things, she thought on what the Goblin King had so cleverly told her. It was true, she hadn't understood what he had been trying to say, and she hadn't believed his offers to be true. She was, however, still a young girl. She wasn't quite sure if she was ready for a normal relationship, much less a relationship with the Goblin King. She knew she wanted to get to know him better, but she was still a bit shaken from the whole idea. If he had been acting only as she had imagined him to be, what was he really like? The story from his eyes showed him to be kind, and quiet, and very much in love with her.  
  
Sarah stared over at the book, innocently resting on her bed, as she absent-mindedly packed her old things away. Looking down at her hands, she noticed that she was holding the statue that looked remarkably like the Goblin King. She stared intently at it, as though it could answer her question. Setting it aside, she picked up the book and flipped it to the last page. She noticed with a start that the words that had appeared there not an hour before where gone.  
  
"But where…" she began to question the air. And with a start, she saw writing appearing again. "It disappears after the book is closed so that the page can be reused."  
  
"Oh," Sarah said softly. "Jareth?"  
  
"Yes, dear Sarah?"  
  
For a moment, Sarah considered asking her true question. But, she was still frightened by what the Goblin King had told her, so she asked a different question.  
  
"Will Toby remember what happened?"  
  
"If he wants to." The writing paused a moment, then resumed. "Why don't you ask me what you really wanted to? I will answer anything that I possibly can for you. You seem so puzzled. You must have questions. Please Sarah, ask me."  
  
Sarah hesitated. How did he know that wasn't what she wanted to know? Oh well, she wasn't a very good liar she thought, so it probably wasn't too hard to tell. "Wh…What are you really like?" She paused a moment, then rushed on. "I mean, if the whole time I was in the Labyrinth you were acting how I thought you should, what are you really like? How do you act? How do you talk? What…" she faltered for words, then whispered again, "What are you really like?"  
  
Sarah noted with some confusion that the book included some actions. "(Laughter)" appeared on the page, then Jareth's words to her. "Oh Dearest Sarah, you cannot know how happy I am that you want to get to know me. I don't believe that anyone can truly sum up the entirety of their being themselves, in words, so I believe that the best way for you to find out what I'm really like is to talk to me. Don't worry though, I'd like to take things slow, I don't want to scare you. So why don't we just talk through this book for a while at least? Okay?"  
  
Sarah nodded quickly. "Okay." As badly as she wanted to get to know him for real, she wasn't quite sure if she'd be able to so soon after seeing him so intimidating. She turned back to the figure of the Goblin King she had set aside to pack up, smiled at it, and placed it back on her dresser. 


	4. Growing Up

Here you go guys, one more chapter. I should warn you, the first part is kind of an overview of how everyone else saw Sarah, then it goes into a flashback, starting with "When Sarah turned 16…." The beginning part goes all the way through most of her senior year in high school. ( Thanks again!!!!  
  
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And so the days passed, and Sarah grew older. She remained the dreamer of old, but now had a sense of responsibilities and duties she knew she must see to. She found within herself the urge to know, to learn. So she spent more time on her schoolwork. She found that there really are magicks and wonders upon the Earth, but that they are often considered commonplace, because people don't take the time to look at them. She saw the awesome beauty of the clouds painted across the sky, she saw perfection in a drop of water, and laughed at the innocence of the animals. And so Sarah learned about what makes up such things and how they come to be. Her passion for acting dwindled from the knowledge that she didn't have to pretend to see wonders. She knew they existed, they had just been labeled "science" over the years, and so people lost the reverence for such magicks.  
  
Sarah made many friends throughout High School, just as she had in the Labyrinth, but her best friend remained always a little red book that she was never without. She was often seen by her friends staring at it, reading the same page again and again, smiling brilliantly. When asked, she always replied that she was "just talking to my Goblin King," and they would all laugh. Everyone that saw Sarah could see the beauty of her spirit. She always had a glowing smile upon her face, and her eyes were mischievous with a far away twinkle in them. Many boys tried to court her, but she always refused, saying her heart was bound to another, and they would leave, but somehow could never feel sad about it, for she spoke with such love in her voice, that they were proud to have witnessed such a thing.  
  
As for Sarah, she spent many nights talking to Jareth through the book, telling him every detail of her life, and simply spending time with him. He would tell her about how the kingdom was, and how Hoggle, Sir Didymus, Ambrosious, Ludo, and even the little blue worm were doing. She found that he had a wonderful sense of random humor and they often told each other jokes. They also teased each other more and more as she grew older. They were both completely honest with each other in terms of their feelings for each other, and Jareth would often tell her she was the most radiant woman in any world, and that he would love her for all eternity.  
  
When Sarah turned 16, two years after the Labyrinth, for her birthday present from Jareth she asked to see him through her mirror. They spent all night talking and letting Sarah grow comfortable seeing him as he laughed and joked with her. She found herself staring intently at every emotion that played upon his face, memorizing every curve and line. She wanted to run her hands through his wild hair, and feel how soft it was. She found herself wondering what his lips would taste like, and how his eyes would look up close. Noticing her intent stare, Jareth had quirked and eyebrow at her and smiled. When she gasped a touch at the change and her heartbeat quickened, he chuckled and laid his hand flat upon the glass. She tentatively had placed her hand on the glass over his image's, and stared at their nearly joined hands. They both had started when they felt the warm press of each other's fingers and then palms. They had stared at each other a little frightened, then had looked back at their hands. Sarah had been the first to move. She had moved her fingers over a little and had let them slide amongst his, entwining their fingers together. He had looked at her warmly, and they had both sat silently, staring at each other, and feeling the warmth of each other's hands throughout the night. 


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